I had just finished walking my brother through the more technical parts of a very successful video marketing project I had just finished and he was shocked.

As someone who’s a filmmaker himself, he has made many commercials for businesses of all sizes in the past, but couldn’t really fathom what I was doing. This video marketing “thing”, this new technology that we can use to make videos that help us reach whatever goal we have in mind, this was brand new to him.

We live on opposite ends of the video spectrum.

Although I enjoy making shorter form videos that connect with people and serve a specific marketing purpose, my brother is more of a filmmaker in the traditional sense. He would rather make documentaries, movies, focus on cinematography, etc.

But my background is different from his.

As someone whose background is in working for large advertising agencies like Havas Worldwide, Ogilvy & MRY, I picked up a camera when I was already a marketer who had done work for brands like IBM, Rolex & American Express.

Almost immediately, my brain attached making videos to marketing, which opened my eyes to how to make videos that have a specific “job” to do. Yes, you can send videos out to be your mini soldiers that share the story of your business to potential customers.

After trying a few different creative ideas, paying for ads across many channels, and learning what videos make people feel an emotion and take action, I had created something that’s basically a well-oiled, modern-day, video marketing machine!

The thing about video marketing is it can seem complicated and confusing to someone who has never done it before or doesn’t know the first thing about it.

My brother was quick to point out that most people probably didn’t understand what I was trying to explain, which is 100% true.

This misunderstanding of a video marketing plan vs a general TV commercial inspired me to write this piece for anyone who is looking to either understand the difference or manage a video-related budget in the best way possible, this is for you.

Without further ado, here are 3 reasons why video marketing is better for your business than the average TV commercial.

Video marketing is measurable

The whole process of creating, buying & choosing where your television ads go is fairly straightforward.

Sure, you have to think about what the commercial will be/feel like, what channels you’d like the commercial to show on and what you want the commercial to do. After these few things, you put the commercial out, cross your fingers & hope sales go up.

If you’re really ambitious, maybe you’d even do something called a brand lift study so that you can get some kind of explanation about how this video made your business better, if it did at all.

In 2019 & beyond, unless your goal is high general awareness, there’s no need for this.

The beauty of video marketing online is that everything is tracked.

How many people watched, how many people clicked, how long the average person watched for. Those are just a few examples, but all indicators of how much people like what you are putting out in the world.

Knowing how people are reacting to what you’re putting out in almost real-time is a big deal.

This real-time reporting nature frees you to test SO much more.

Of course, having a videographer who you can show the results to so they can tweak the next video accordingly is great, but if you’re shooting the videos using just your smartphone, that can work just fine too.

You have so much more control when deciding what your next marketing activity should be. This level of flexibility brings me to my next big point about why video marketing is a better use of your investment…

2. You can be more nimble

A/B split testing is a classic marketing strategy to learn what is working and what is not.

Generally, the way it works is you have one variation of something, and another variation that is mostly the same, but slightly different. This gives you a much better idea of what is working and what is not because you’re constantly making tiny adjustments that improve your overall performance.

Think about how powerful that can be when you’re talking about video marketing!

Want to test the same exact advertisement/script with a man vs a woman? Great! Let’s make two videos and test them.

Want to see if the blue or red sweater sells more? Great! Let’s make two videos and test them.

Want to know if the 30-second or 10-second spots get more people to your website? Great! Let’s make two videos and test them!

I’m sure you get the point.

Having this level of control, especially in real-time, can give you a huge advantage against the competition. It’s no secret that videos are dominating every popular social channel, so you don’t have to guess if people are watching videos, we KNOW they are.

This brings me to my next point and arguably the most important reason why video advertising is likely a much better use of your money than TV commercials.

You can reach your exact audience. Not a general “audience”.

3. Detailed targeting options to reach your target audience

When Facebook advertising first started gaining popularity, it was because of how granular you could get with choosing audiences to target for your message.

To truly understand how powerful this is, it might help if I explained the difference between online and offline audience targeting.

Television audience targeting (Offline)

Sure, you can target using television commercials, but that “targeting” is completely surface level.

Just because you’re trying to sell dog collars doesn’t mean everyone watching Animal Planet owns a dog. Just because you’re trying to sell toasters doesn’t mean that every single person watching HGTV wants a toaster.

These are the high-level “targeting” options that cable television gives you.

Online audience targeting

In comparison, when you are choosing your advertising targeting online, you can appeal to a much more granular person who is more likely to be within your target audience.

Let’s revisit selling dog collars as an example.

Now when you are trying to sell your dog collars, Facebook & Google (which also owns YouTube) allow you to choose “dog owners” as a target. But not only that, you can choose dog owners who are in your zip code that are between the ages of 18-35 years old and are men, for example.

Think about how much more powerful that is now that you are making an advertisement for a certain type of person instead of a general dog audience!

Remember my earlier point about being able to be nimble?

Well, now I’m sure you see how being nimble along with good targeting can change how you market your business through video.

It’s simple, get a greater return on your investment by taking control…

Thinking about making a TV commercial? Well, if that TV commercial will help you reach your goals better, by all means, make that commercial.

However, if you want to step ahead of your competition & measure the return on your investment more closely, you must harness the power of video marketing for your business.

Not only is video arguably the most popular medium today, but the entire video marketing process is severely underused out of what I think is a fear of the technical aspects.

Sooner than later, more businesses will catch on to clever and smart ways to use video marketing and it will become more widely used and accessible. But for now, get some videos to go to work for you!

P.S –

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I also have a range of offerings that were made to help businesses get started with and succeed with video marketing:

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